MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — Nicole Vanblarcom of Bartonsville looks at the world a lot differently these days. A year ago, she overdosed on fentanyl. She's been clean for several months and says she owes regaining control of her life to Monroe County's co-response program.
"They came to my house and offered me help, and they did for me what I couldn't do for myself at the time," Vanblarcom said.
Vanblarcom is one of the first people the program helped since it began in February 2023.
The Monroe County district attorney's office partnered with Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission and Pyramid Healthcare to integrate peer-recovery specialists with law enforcement on overdose calls.
The co-response team is contacted anytime an ambulance is called for an opioid-related overdose.
"We got out and made contact with the person who overdosed and their family. We want to make sure that they have Narcan so that there's not a fatal overdose at the house, and we want to make sure that they have the support that they need, and we try to get them into treatment," said Monroe County Det. Kim Lippincott.
Last year, the team offered support to more than 65 people in the county.
Lippincott, who is in charge of the program, says programs like this are happening all across the country.
"It's a different way to fight the war on drugs," Lippincott said. "We are acting the war on drugs by diminishing the demand, by helping get people into treatment. Why are these people committing crimes? It's because of their drug addiction. So, we really want to tackle that drug addiction angle and try to help people so that they're not involved in the criminal justice system."
Stan Lewandowski is a certified recovery specialist working on the team. He has also been in recovery for nine years. He says he got involved to become part of the solution.
"It defuses the situation when I can tell them, 'Look, I've been where you're at, and I'm now in my early recovery.' I wasn't sure that help was possible, and so I looked at them like they may not believe they can do it either, and so one of the things I try to instill is maybe you don't feel like this can happen, but I know I can," Lewandowski said.
"There is life after addiction, and it does get better. It's really hard to get clean and stay clean, but life gets beautiful after you put down the drug and you get the help that you need," Vanblarcom added.